The political arena was atwitter Friday, following an interview given by former Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin,
who expressed great concern about the cabinet's decision-making process.

Diskin leveled harsh criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
saying that both were motivated by personal interests and ego and adding that he and his colleagues in the defense establishment "Didn't trust their motives… We had a feeling that they were trying to sneak something under the radar."

Hatnua Chairwoman Tzipi Livni
warned that: "We cannot leave Israel's
future in the hands of Netanyahu and Lieberman. They are reckless and irresponsible. Yuval Diskin's unnerving account of their decision-making process mandates that they be removed from leadership."

A rift. Diskin, Netanyahu and Barak (Photos: Motti Kimchi, IDF)

Hatnua's No.2 Amram Mitzna added: "Netanyahu is weak – Israel is weak. Every top defense establishment official over the past four years has had chilling personal accounts on how Netanyahu conducts himself when it comes to the most sensitive security issues… Again we see how for Netanyahu, everything boils down to political interests."

MK Nachman Shai (Kadima)
warned that "We are seeing how the prime minister is gladly giving into the pressures of the radical list he is leading. And this is just the appetizer to what we can look forward to if, heaven forbid, the Feiglin-Lieberman-Bennett government is elected."

The government, he added, "Had recently made a series of unprecedentedly dangerous decisions that are jeopardizing Israel's international standing and threaten its Jewish and democratic character."

Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz said that he could back Diskin's accounts: "I hold him in the highest opinion and I believe him. I myself was witness to the obsession about mounting a military campgain against Iran."

Vice Premier and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon dismissed the criticism, saying it was "blown out of proportion".

"Diskin's statements are regrettable," he said. "Over the past four years I have been part of these sensitive discussions and I can attest to the fact that the issues are handled with the utmost discretion and responsibility under the prime minister's leadership."